Small town shows big heart for vets

COPPEROPOLIS - This tiny town in the Sierra foothills showed big love Sunday for its military veterans.

Dana M. Nichols

COPPEROPOLIS - This tiny town in the Sierra foothills showed big love Sunday for its military veterans.

The Veterans Day Parade that rolled south on Main Street at 1 p.m. is the first in Copperopolis, say longtime residents. But it won't be the last, said Charity Maness, the mother of a military veteran and one of the lead organizers of this year's parade.

"Hopefully, it will get bigger and bigger every year," Maness said.

The parade reflects that veterans in Copperopolis are more organized. In February, dozens of them formed James D. Piper Post 12118 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Post members served during conflicts stretching from World War II and Korea to Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most of them marched in the parade. A few, like Melvin Ogg, 90, rode in restored World War II Jeeps.

Ogg is a Marine Corps veteran who earned a Purple Heart for wounds he received on the island of Bougainville in 1943.

"This was a whole lot easier to get into when I was 18," Ogg said of the Jeep.

Although locals organized the parade, many people also came here from other cities to show their appreciation.

Among them were 29 members of Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Chapter 33-2 of Stockton. Chapter 33-2 was the largest motorcycle unit in Sunday's parade and is the largest motorcycle unit in Stockton's July 4 parade each year, Chapter Cmdr. Ron Bacigalupo said.

Jim Schram, 64, and Ann Schram, 61, of Sonora, were among the many non-veterans who lined Main Street.

"We want our troops to know even if the government doesn't stand behind them, ... we do," Jim Schram said.

That desire to show respect, love and support for veterans permeated the event.

Marine Corps veteran Danny Thomas, 64, for example, was the man who served as officer of the day, snapping out the commands for the Post 12118 color guard. Thomas said he doesn't want younger veterans to do what he did and wait 40 years before seeking medical and counseling help for injuries during service.

"I didn't want to have anything to do with the government after I got out of the service," Thomas said.

Today, however, he is getting care from the Veterans Administration as well the very visible gratitude of members of his community, many of whom lined Main Street as Thomas marched.

Thomas and other members of Post 12118 regularly reach out to other veterans, offering them assistance and comradeship. "We wish more of the younger veterans would come and seek help," he said.

After the parade, Thomas reflected on its significance as the first such Veterans Day event for Copperopolis.